Anderson Silva’s manager makes a good point against Vitor Belfort’s title shot

Published on: 23rd January, 2010

Anderson Silva's manager makes a good point against Vitor Belfort's title shot | read this item

We all know Anderson Silva was not too thrilled with the prospect of fighting Vitor Belfort for the middleweight title, because they had recently trained together with the same striking coach and camp.

Silva’s manager Ed Soares also had reasons as to why he felt Belfort did not deserve a title shot.

In a recent interview on MMAWeekly Radio, Soares spoke in depth about his reasoning against Belfort’s title shot.

“I think Vitor’s a very exciting fighter. He’s a very dangerous fighter. I think this is a fight that the world will definitely want to see. I still don’t believe Vitor deserves a title shot yet at 185 pounds. That’s how I felt, that’s how I feel about it, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t believe it’s going to be a great fight,” he commented.
“I just felt that he hadn’t even fought one time at 185 pounds in the UFC. Granted, he has fought in other organizations at 185 pounds, and he’s the ex-light heavyweight champ at one time. I’m aware of all those things. For the most part I just felt he didn’t deserve the shot right away. That’s in the past now, he’s fighting for the title, and that’s what we’re focused on. I do believe it’s going to be a great fight.”

In the end Silva did not want to fight Dan Henderson and Nate Marquardt, who both seemed more deserving of the title shot and requested a number one contenders bout. The UFC honored that request and the fight fell through after Henderson’s contract negotiations stalled.

Vitor Belfort was the only other viable option, even without a fight at middleweight in the UFC. On the contrary, Belfort did knockout Matt Lindland at Affliction “Day of Reckoning.” Lindland up to that point was considered to be the best ranked middleweights outside the UFC at the time and was ranked as high as 3rd or 4th bin some rankings.

What do you think, does Vitor deserve his title shot against Anderson Silva?

Narcisist is the Co-owner of UR Dirt and is the designer, editor and author. URDirt.com is a MMA blog that covers the UFC, WEC, StrikeForce, DREAM and several other Mixed Martial Art promotions. Read more from this author

Readers Comments

mma-titan says:

January 23, 2010 at 8:53 am (Quote)

There being the biggest hater on vitor right now. Anderson got the title shot after one fight so what are they complaining about.

Hot debate. What do you think? 2 1

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- Prodigy Fan says:
  
  January 23, 2010 at 9:01 am (Quote)
  
  Totally agree and there really was no one else after Nate for him to fight, I think Anderson is scared of fighting guys he trained with like Wanderlei. Maybe they know something we don’t know
  
  Hot debate. What do you think? 3 1
  
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Serial says:

January 23, 2010 at 9:46 am (Quote)

Lindland is so overated how can you agree that he was deserves to be ranked with Anderson or the top Middle weight fighters, he was ranked so high because of old nutthuggers blowing hin up for beating nobodies

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- The Mexicutioner says:
  
  January 23, 2010 at 9:50 am (Quote)
  
  Your a retard learn to read he never wrote Lindland was ranked high in his opinion he wrote he was ranked high on most p4p rankings.
  
  Sherdog was all over Lindlands nutts and even did a movie about him that the Ufc was scared to put him against Franklin thats why so many people used to rank him so high
  
  Agree or Disagree: 1 0
  
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emorej says:

January 23, 2010 at 6:10 pm (Quote)

i feel like its the same thing as the whole BJ Penn/Frankie Edgar situation, seems like fighters are being matched up by styles now rather than being matched up by ranking. Like Ed Soares said, he doesnt think Vitor is title-worthy yet but its gonna be an exciting fight..

its a risky situation for Anderson Silva but atleast he didnt turn the fight down.

Agree or Disagree: 0 1

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Pandaman says:

February 6, 2010 at 11:46 am (Quote)

Vitor Doesnt Deserve A Title Shot. Its Bullshit Really. There Are Other Fighters Who Have Been Going up In The Division Who Should Get A Chance Before He Does. Now Bitches I know What YOur Going To Say. “You Scared Anderson is Going To Lose?” my Answer? Fuck no! Anderson Is Going To Smash Belfort’s Face In Or Break His Mothafucking Arm! Either Way Belfort Is Stuck Now. Hes Caught In His Web. The SPIDER is Hungry. Lets Pray For Belforts Soul..

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